“Everything happened thanks to a wine-tasting evening organized in Los Angeles by our American importer. Among the buyers present, there was also a White House emissary that, the following day, ordered 700 boxes of our Primitivo, 720 to be exact.” These are the words of Nicola Chiaromonte owner of the Tenute Chiaromonte winery in Acquaviva delle Fonti.
Most of the 6-bottle boxes ordered will contain ‘Primitivo IGT Puglia – Mascherone 2016′, and the others will be of the award-winning ‘Muro Sant’Angelo Contrada Barbatto’. The two labels are different in complexity and structure, ‘Mascherone’ “is a very simple wine, produced from very young vineyards in 2016, it’s not aged and easy to drink, only.” On the other hand, ‘Muro Sant’Angelo Contrada Barbatto’ is Nicola Chiaromonte’s proud and joy: “One of the labels that have made the history of our winery, produced by sapling vineyards that are about 80 years old. An enveloping red of almost 17 degrees that has won many awards” – Three Glasses Gambero Rosso, Hong Kong Wine Spirit, Decanter World Wide Awards, Vinitaly International Award.
Although the farm has been owned by the Chiaromonte family for four generations, the winery started to sell its products only in 2000. Nicola Chiaromonte says: “My parents always wanted to transmit their life experience through the relationship with the earth, but my young age didn’t allow me to understand them.” But one winter evening a man that had been looking for him since the afternoon knocked on his door. He had received as a gift a bottle that Chiaromonte by a friend, and he wanted to buy more. As the man talked, Chiaromonte understood the meaning of his parents teaching, “I realized that a bottle of wine would change my life” he says, adding “My parents taught me that the soil is different from one inch to another, each one producing a different product. I like to think that diversity is a richness and a resource that increases and enhances the value of human work.”
Ilona Catani Scarlett